When GlaxoSmithKline PLC chief Sir Andrew Witty in early February lambasted Europe’s politicians for the region’s slow access to innovative drugs and for short-sighted drug price cutting tactics, he was doubtless expressing the frustration of all industry players, large and small. Europe’s growing reimbursement hurdles and falling prices, compounded by a currency and sovereign debt crisis, mean the region’s no longer a strategic priority for the likes of GSK. But although it and other Big Pharmas have sufficient scale and reach to continue to move jobs abroad and step up their emerging markets activities if conditions don’t improve closer to home, most of the rest of industry’s smaller commercial players – including the Big Biotechs – don’t.
And for many of them, Europe is increasingly important, both financially and strategically. Biotechs selling just a handful of specialist,...